Predictive fluid catalytic cracking

A number of mechanistic modeling studies to explain the fluid catalytic cracking process and to predict the yields of valuable products of the FCC unit have been performed in the past. Weekman and Nace (1970) presented a reaction network model based on the assumption that the catalytic cracking kinetics are second order with respect to the feed concentration and on a three-lump scheme. The first lump corresponds to the entire charge stock above the gasoline boiling range, the second... 

A model for the riser reactor of commercial fluid catalytic cracking units (FCCU) and pilot plants is developed This model is for real reactors and feedstocks and for commercial FCC catalysts. It is based on hydrodynamic considerations and on the kinetics of cracking and deactivation. The microkinetic model used has five lumps with eight kinetic constants for cracking and two for the catalyst deactivation. These 10 kinetic constants have to be previously determined in laboratory tests for the feedstock-catalyst considered. The model predicts quite well the product distribution at the riser exit. It allows the study of the effect of several operational parameters and of riser revampings. 

Suib et at. (25, 254) reported the different effects of nickel and vanadium on the catalytic activity and selectivity for the fluid catalytic cracking by a photoluminescence technique and showed that the method is useful in predicting the catalyst deactivation caused by the deposition of metals on surfaces. The activity of the catalyst decreases monotonically with increasing vanadium content. With 1.5 wt% of V, the catalystad lost most of its activity, and with 2.0 wt% of V it became almost completely inactive. Such a deactivation of the catalyst was irreversible, with the extent being closely associated with the surface area covered with vanadium. Moreover, the extent of the deactivation was found to depend on the aging temperature, which was accelerated when aging was carried out under the same conditions normally sized in hydrothermal reactions. 

In refineries, the largest benefits of model-predictive control come from crude distillation units and gasoline blenders, for which the throughput is high, and from fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and other conversion units, for which the difference in value between feeds and products usually is high. 

Predictive Modeling of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Process... 

---